1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an information collecting system for an unattended merchandise selling machine/service providing machine such as a vending machine, which can wait on customers without human intervention in selling merchandise and providing services.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Recently, merchandise selling machines/service providing machines that can wait on customers without human intervention, including, for example, card issuing machines and unattended repair reception machines for shoes and the like, as well as vending machines, have been widely used. It is important for vending machines and automatic service providing machines that wait on customers without human intervention to collect customer service data and machine abnormality occurrence data for replenishment of merchandise, sales management, measures against machine failures, and the like.
Consider vending machines hereinafter. To determine the number of goods to be delivered to each vending machine and a delivery route thereto, perform sales management, and determine measures against a faulty machine, information must be periodically collected from each vending machine. It takes much labor and time to manually perform this information collection. For this reason, for example, a telephone line may be connected to a vending machine or a specific low-power radio unit may be installed to perform telephone line connection at a remote place, thereby allowing information collection using the telephone line. Alternatively, information collection may be performed by using dedicated radio services using tele-terminals, MCA radio units, and the like. With this operation, information can be collected without human intervention. In these methods, however, it takes much labor and high cost to lay telephone lines to vending machines, or high initial costs or running costs are required for the machines.
Under the circumstances, an information collecting apparatus for a vending machine is disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 8-154135, which uses a PHS (Personal Handyphone System) that covers a narrow area but is designed for personal use at low cost. The information collecting apparatus for the vending machine disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 8-154135 will be described below with reference to FIGS. 1 to 4.
FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing the schematic arrangement of a vending machine 109 used for this information collecting system. As shown in FIG. 4, the vending machine 109 includes a selling apparatus 112 and a coin processing apparatus 113, and forms an automatic merchandise selling mechanism. The selling apparatus 112 and the coin processing apparatus 113 are connected to a central processing unit (CPU) 110 through an interface 111. The central processing unit 110 controls the operations of the selling apparatus 112 and the coin processing apparatus 113 in accordance with programs. In addition, a ROM 114 storing operation programs, a RAM 115, and an information communication apparatus 116 are connected to the central processing unit 110 through a bus line 117. The RAM 115 has a transmission data storage section 115a for storing transmission data such as sales data, out-of-stock information, failure information, and abnormality information. The central processing unit 110 totalizes sales in the vending machine 109 and stores the resultant data in the transmission data storage section 115a every time a sale is made, or stores out-of-stock information, failure information, or the like in the transmission data storage section 115a upon detection of a corresponding state.
FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the schematic arrangement of a PHS terminal apparatus 101 mounted in the vending machine 109. As shown in FIG. 2, the PHS terminal apparatus 101 includes a control section 102 having a CPU 102a, a ROM 102b, and a RAM 102c, a radio section 103, a vending machine interface 104, a speech codec 105, and a speech band modem 106. The vending machine interface 104 is connected to the control section 102 to allow communication with the information communication apparatus 116 (see FIG. 1) of the vending machine 109, and is designed to receive transmission data such as sales data, out-of-stock information, failure information, and abnormality information from the vending machine 109. Upon reception of transmission data from the vending machine 109 through the vending machine interface 104, the control section 102 performs control to convert the data into speech data through the speech band modem 106, convert this modem signal into a signal that can be transmitted by the PHS through the speech codec 105, and perform radio data transmission through the radio section 103.
FIG. 3 shows an information collecting system for a vending machine, which implements a combination of PHS transmission and telephone line transmission by using the vending machine 109 and the PHS terminal apparatus 101 shown in FIGS. 1 and 2. The PHS terminal apparatus 101 mounted in the vending machine 109 transmits/receives data to/from a PHS base station 107. The PHS base station 107 transmits/receives data to/from a center 120 through a telephone line 118. In this case, the PHS base station 107 can use a center originating scheme in which the center 120 collects sales data from the vending machine 109 at the fixed time and a terminal originating scheme in which failure information, out-of-stock information, or abnormality information is transmitted from the vending machine 109 to the center 120 in real time. In the center originating scheme, by collecting sales data and failure information at the fixed time at night, the number of goods to be delivered to each vending machine, a delivery route thereto, and a measure against a faulty machine on the next day can be determined. In the terminal originating scheme, since transmission can be performed upon occurrence of a failure or abnormality, the failure or abnormality can be instantly handled, thereby shortening the time during which sales cannot be performed.
FIG. 4 shows an information collecting system for a vending machine, which uses the vending machine 109 and the PHS terminal apparatus 101 in FIGS. 1 and 2, but does not use any telephone line. The PHS terminal apparatus 101 transmits/receives data to/from a portable PHS terminal apparatus 121. The portable PHS terminal apparatus 121 has the same arrangement as that of the PHS terminal apparatus 101 shown in FIG. 1, and includes a control section 102, a radio section 103, a speech codec 105, and a speech band modem 106. The portable PHS terminal apparatus 121 can transmit/receive data to/from the PHS terminal apparatus 101 within its transmission/reception area. The manager of the vending machines 109 can therefore collect data from all the vending machines 109 within the transmission/reception area without approaching any vending machines 109. When the radio section 103 receives a data signal from the vending machine 109 through the PHS terminal apparatus 101, the portable PHS terminal apparatus 121 stores the signal data in the memory (RAM 102c) of the control section 102.
A concrete example of an information collecting system using the portable PHS terminal apparatus 121 will be described below. The manager of the vending machine 109 may collect data from the PHS terminal apparatus 101 mounted in the vending machine 109 into the portable PHS terminal apparatus 121 while driving a merchandise delivery car 122, and may unload and deliver necessary goods from the merchandise delivery car 122 to the vending machine 109 on the basis of the collected data. In this case, the portable PHS terminal apparatus 121 preferably has the function of processing various types of information stored in the memory of the control section 102 and displaying the resultant data on a display unit or printing the data by a printer.
As described above, in the information collecting system disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 8-154135, data can be collected from each vending machine without directly connecting a telephone line to the vending machine, and telephone line connection is facilitated by using a PHS. In addition, even if no PHS base station is not present near a vending machine, data can be collected from the vending machine.
The following problems, however, arise in the information collecting system disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 8-154135.
First, this information collecting system requires a high running cost. This is because, in the information collecting system, the PHS terminal apparatuses mounted in all the vending machines must be registered in a telephone office, and a large amount of basic charge must be paid to the telephone office as a whole.
Second, in this information system, vending machines from which information is to be collected must be installed in limited places. This is because, information is directly communicated between each vending machine from which information is to be collected and the center through an outside line, and hence each vending machine must be installed within the outside line communication area.
Third, in this information system, the manager cannot directly collect information from a vending machine from which information is to be collected unless he/she is located in an area near the vending machine. This is because, in the information system, the vending machine cannot directly communicate information with the information collecting terminal apparatus outside the extension communication area of the vending machine.